As you mature, Benjamin Franklin’s proverb that “nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” evolves from a pithy quote to a concrete truth.
While living in the moment may have defined your youth, planning for the future will help you build security for your family to help you build a lasting legacy.
To find the right life insurance coverage for your age and family status, you’ll want to understand your life insurance goals and how much coverage you need, create a budget for your life insurance expenses, then shop across life insurance policy types to find the best match for you.
Below are six straightforward steps you can take to build a life insurance plan like an adult.
1. Set your adult life goals
To build a truly comprehensive financial plan, you’ll want to look at a range of products that include investments, retirement plans, and life insurance. While investments help you build wealth and retirement plans help you build a vision for your golden years, a strong life insurance policy ensures that your beneficiaries can carry on your legacy.
Once you commit to budgeting for life insurance, you’ll want to explore the different types of options so you can find a policy that matches your current financial status as well as your future financial goals.
2. Figure out how much life insurance you need as an adult
Knowing you want to include life insurance as part of your plan is one thing, but knowing how much life insurance you need is the next step.
There are many different ways to calculate the right amount of life insurance, but generally you will want to include coverage for your lost income as well as coverage for any existing debts (such as a mortgage) and planned expenses (like education for your children).
A simpler way to calculate the right amount of life insurance coverage is to use our Life Insurance Calculator . By submitting your current income and coverage needs, the calculator will immediately show you how much coverage might fit your needs.
3. Build your life insurance budget
Once you know the amount of life insurance coverage that fits your needs, you’ll want to look at your budget to understand what types of life insurance can fit into your financial plan.
Monthly premiums for life insurance can range from less than $25 each month to over $500: it all depends on the type of life insurance you want.
4. Compare life insurance policy types
Typically, term life insurance policies will offer the lower ends of that range, while permanent life insurance (like whole life) include higher premiums. Term policies are lower because there is a chance you outlive the term length: in which case your beneficiaries wouldn’t receive the death benefit payout. With whole life insurance, the death benefit payout is guaranteed as long as you continue to pay your monthly premiums. In addition, some whole life policies allow part of your premium to go towards a cash value (in addition to your death benefit). A whole life’s cash value may even include some ability to withdraw from or take loans out from the value, which gives you a bit of flexibility in how you use your policy.
To compare term life vs. whole life insurance policies, view our comparison chart to select the right life insurance option for you .
5. Select the best life insurance policy for you
With your goals, coverage amount, budget, and preferred policy type in place, you can shop for the most attractive life insurance terms and policies.
At Fidelity Life, you can get a quote without any obligation by completing our quick Quote Tool to understand the coverage, premium costs, and benefits of your ideal life insurance policy. Once you submit your official life insurance application, an approval decision will allow your coverage to be immediately applied.
6. Create a complete financial plan
Selecting your life insurance policy as an adult will provide security for your family, an essential part of building a mature financial plan.
With your premiums a regular part of your budget, you can begin looking at ways to build your wealth through investments, contributing to retirement plans as you mature, and craft a consistent plan for you, your family, and your children that can weather any storm.
